Oletha Carter Landers chuckled with embarrassment recalling her initial reaction to her new husband, Shannon Landers.
“Wow,” she thought to herself as he walked past. “He’d make a nice catch for some woman.”
She didn’t think anything of it at the time, in 2014, at a Merrillville senior center where the two played bingo for prizes. When Shannon sat down later at her bingo table, Oletha’s friend whispered to her, “I think that man likes you.”
“I told her no way,” Oletha recalled. “At my age, there’s no way I thought that anything would ever come of it.”
Oletha, who was born and raised in Gary, is 76. Shannon, an Alabama native who was raised in East Chicago, is 80. They don’t look their age. They don’t act their age either.
While retelling their love story, both revealed shades from their younger years.
“I was on the hunt,” said Shannon, a retired Inland Steel Corp. mechanic. “I felt like I was locked in a cage.”
“I didn’t want to take anything too fast,” said Oletha, who has 10 grandchildren.
It didn’t take long until Shannon sided up to Oletha and asked her, “Are you spoken for?”
Impressed by his gentlemanly gesture, she replied, “No.”
“That’s old-style politeness right there,” she later told a friend.
The two began courting without ever verbally acknowledging it. They simply knew.
They showed up around the same time for every bingo game at the senior center. They set their clocks to make sure they didn’t miss an opportunity to see each other. This went on for months. In time, Oletha traveled to Shannon’s apartment complex to play bingo there.
One day, Shannon suggested they get together at one of their homes to make turkey salad. Oletha was hesitant.
“Well, I liked him and all,” Oletha told me. “But not behind closed doors with him by myself.”
He charmed her. She eventually relented.
Together, they made homemade turkey salad at her home of 18 years, an apartment complex on the north end of Merrillville. They split in half their first home-cooked meal.
“When can I come back over?” Shannon asked afterward.
“Any time you want,” she replied with a big smile.
Oletha told me, “He conducted himself like a gentleman so I figured he could be invited back here.”
Shannon smiled at the memory. He also smiled at the memory of their first kiss.
“It was right there,” he said, pointing to a spot in her living room.
“All I felt was…. wow,” Oletha said, giggling like a girl.
When she introduced her new beau to her extended family, there was concern about losing their loving, doting grandmother.
“At first, all I got was their stares,” Shannon said.
“It was no joke back then,” Oletha added. “Even though I told them that older people like to have fun too.”
Her family eventually eased up, welcomed Shannon, and noticed that Oletha was happier in his company.
This past spring, Shannon told Oletha he had a question for her. She had an idea what he would ask.
“What would you say if I asked you to marry me?” he asked her.
She would say yes, Oletha replied. And she did.
“We thought of just sneaking off and getting married with a justice of the peace,” Shannon said.
“But our families didn’t want us to,” Oletha said.
Without knowing it, they were finishing each other’s sentences in sing-song fashion.
When I filmed a brief video of the couple, Oletha did all the talking while Shannon held her hand and nodded. You’d never know they’ve been together less than two years. (View the video and more photos at bancodeprofissionais.com/suburbs/chi-jerry-davich-staff.html.)
They both have been married twice. Shannon is a widower. Oletha, whose name means precious stone, was single for 24 years. They weren’t sure what a third marriage would hold for them. They tied the knot anyway.
On July 10, they married at her place of worship, Temple of Deliverance in Christ Church in Gary. Shannon, who attends Embassies of Christ Church in Gary, didn’t seem to mind.
“It wasn’t top of the line or anything, but it was sweet,” Oletha said, showing me their wedding photo.
They’re in the process of moving in together into a new, larger apartment at his senior living complex, Village Greens in Merrillville. Moving day is soon. During my visit, they packed away her belongings, including her many pairs of shoes.
“Don’t forget those,” Oletha told Shannon.
“You know I won’t,” he replied, as if they’ve been together for decades.
They still play bingo together at a senior center.
“He won’t miss it unless something big is going on,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“It’s also good to mingle,” Shannon explained.
“You’re a mingler now, not a hunter,” Oletha reminded him.
It doesn’t matter that he’s 80 and she’s 76. Their primal emotions can still be vulnerable.
“I could tell there were other ladies after him, coming up and touching him, all up in his business,” Oletha said sharply.
Shannon smartly didn’t say a word when she told me this.
“But I got him,” Oletha said.
Before they married, Oletha refused to admit she ever felt such jealousy. After they married, she finally confessed to him her real feelings.
“I guess I lied,” she said, burying her head in her hands.
“Love can right a lot of wrongs,” Shannon said.
“Well alright,” Oletha said, nodding her head. “It turns out he was my biggest prize from playing all that bingo.”
Shannon quietly smiled.
Twitter@jdavich
